the darkening sky

Knights Point, South Island, New Zealand

The air yesterday morning was yellow, acrid, humid, and the heat didn't help much. But I wasn't thinking of that.

I woke up dreaming of an afternoon months and months ago, when we drove for hours, crossing mountains criss-crossed with waterfalls like silver threads on dark green wool.

On we drove, alone on the road, no cars in either direction. When we reached the sea, it felt like the end of the world.

The wind was cold, sharp and salty. The air that flowed into our lungs was clean and biting. We were silent, hands shoved in our pockets, a fine rain misting our faces. Where did the sea end, and where did the sky begin?

Minutes of a trip, and yet it's these moments in between destinations, these little snatches of time that suddenly bob up on a sea of memories, that bring you inexorably back to a moment when you were suspended in time, in no hurry to go anywhere. Such peace.